Clasp



March 24, 1942.

V.1. B. FREYSINGER 2,277,044

CLAS:

Filed Dec. l5, 1939 JOHN Z3 TMm/NGE@ Patented Mar. 24, 1942 rear anni

CLASP necticut Application December 15, 1939,l Serial No. 369,332 5 Claims. (Cl. 24-24t) This invention relates to blanket clasps or buckles of the type used in baby cribs and bassinets. Such clasps are anchored to the crib and when so anchored are adapted to grip and hold blankets and other covering material in a desired position over an infant and to thereby prevent the child from moving same to an undesirable or dangerous position.

Heretofore a variety of anchoring means have been used to accomplish the above indicated purpose. It is a requirement of these various anchoring means that they lack any potentially dangerous parts and that they be capable of securely holding either a single thickness or several thicknesses of covering as may be required to properly protect the child.

It is therefore, the object of the present invention to provide an improved inexpensive clasp, without dangerous teeth or points, suiiiciently flexible in its mode of operation to satisfy these requirements.

Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out more in detail hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combination of elements and arrangement of parts which will be exemplied in the construction hereafter set forth and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing.

Figure l is a plan view looking down from the top of the blanket clasp;

Fig. 2 is a plan View looking up from the underside of the clasp;

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the clasp l taken along line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a prole of the clasp showing closed and open positions;

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along.

line 5 5 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 6 is a plan View of the clasp showing the anchoring means and the blanket covering properly positioned.

Referring to the drawing the invention comprises generally a clasp it including a base member l2 having fixed thereon a gripping member I4, and a pivotally mounted clamping member i6 having pivotally mounted thereon a second gripping member I8, the gripping members Id and i8 being adapted to cooperatively interlock for i holding therebetween one or more thicknesses of blanketing.

CII

y substantially vertically extending spaced apart tongue portion 2t slightly offset beneath the plane thereof and suitably pierced to provide an anchor opening 22.y The opening 22 is adapted to receive a strap or tape 2li whereby the base member may be suitably secured to a portion of a babys crib, as for example, the. rod 2t. `Each of the four corners of the plate 'i3 of the base member is further provided with a gripping lug 28 adapted to vbe pressed downwardly and inwardly over the supporting end 3E of the gripping member ill to rigidly secure same to the base member.

More speciiically, the gripping member lli is a length of spring steel wire bent to define a U- shaped loop and provide spaced apart side arms i5 and Il connected at their outer ends by a transverse cross bar i9. rihe side arms l5 and Il include parallel supporting inner end portions 36 securely positioned beneath the securing tabs 23, the inner ends of the end portion Sii having inwardly projecting oiisets 352 and the outer ends inwardly projecting offsets 35i, the oisets functioning spaced apart shoulders preventing transverse movement of the end portion :iii relative to the securing lugs 28 and thus holding the loop member in a rigid preset position on the base member l2. Outwardly of the offsets 34 and at right angles thereto the side arms each include short parallel portions 3S connecting into complementary arcs 33. rThe portions of the side arms extending from the outer terminus of l the arcs 38 are then bent upwardly to provide end portions [it and fil, terminating above the plane of the base member l2 and interconnected by the transverse cross bar i9.

With this construction there is thus provided K v a spring steel gripping member of loop form having a wide central portion dened by the complementary arcs 38 converging into a narrow end portion defined by the vertically extending portions @t and il and the interconnecting cross bar i9. Due to the positioning of the cross bar above the plane of the base member there is prol vided in effect a U-shaped hook eye adapted to receive a hook provided. on the complementary gripping member i8 as hereinafter becomes apparent.

There is further mounted on the base i2 a clamping member l5 comprising a substantially rectangular platev 2i provided with side flanges it extending downwardly therefrom to -either side of and below the base member l2. vExtending forwardly from each Iiange is a supporting arm 45, the forwards of which have oppositely disposed aligned openings 46 cut therein to pivotally mount the clamp on oppositely disposed lugs 48 extending outwardly from either side of the base member I2. When so mounted the clamping member I6 is adapted to lie in clamping position when the plate 2| thereof is pivoted into contacting surface engagement with the tongue 2U of the base member I2. For convenient manipulation the plate 2l may include a lip 50 which extends rearwardly therefrom and is ared upwardly and out of the plate thereof to permit it to be readily gripped.

As previously indicated, the clamping member I6 provides a support for the cooperating gripping member I8, and more specifically, the gripping member I8 comprises, like member I2, a substantially U-shaped loop member formed from a length of spring steel wire to provide spaced apart side arms I and 53 interconnected at their outer ends by a transverse cross bar 55. To mount the gripping member I8 on the clamping member I4 the inner ends of the side arms are turned inwardly to provide lugs or pintles 54 journalled in oppositely disposed openings 56 provided in the downwardly extending anges 44 of the clamping member I4. The pivotal connection between the gripping member I8 and the clamping member I4 is rearwardly of and arranged in a plane below the pivotal connection between the clamping member I4 and the base member I2, the reasons for this being hereinafter apparent.

In order to have the grip-ping member I8 properly positioned relative to the clamping member I4 the side arms 5I and 53 thereof extend upwardly and substantially parallel to one another from the pivotal connection on the base member I4 and thendiverge towards one another to provide parallel portions 58 having a transverse spacing therebetween which is less than the transverse spacing between the arc portion 38 of the gripping member I4. Thus the narrow central portion of the gripping member I8 will overlie the wider central portion of the gripping member I4 and limit the downward pivotal movement thereof to the plane of the lower gripping member. Forwardly of the parallel portions 58 the side arms again diverge outwardly and their outer ends are interconnected by a cross bar 55. 'Ihe divergency of the outer ends is such that the transverse spacing therebetween is greater than the outer ends of the side arms of the gripping member I4,` enabling the outer end of the gripping member I4 to be received through and spaced between the side arms and cross bar of the gripping member I 8. In order to interlock the gripping members together the cross bar 55 of the gripping member I8 has a centrally positioned rearwardly offset portion which, in efect, constitutes a hook 62 adapted to be received between the vertical end portions 48 and 4I of the side arms of the gripping member I4 and lie beneath the transverse cross bar I9 thereof, as clearly indicated in the drawing.

With the clasp so constructed, it will be seen that upon pivoting the clamping member I6 in a counterclockwise direction a toggle action is set up resulting in the raising of the pivoted end of the gripping member I8 above the plane of the gripping member I4 and simultaneously moving the hook 62 thereof forwardly and out of the hook eye 43 of the gripping member I4. Upon clearing the hook eye the member I8 may then be lifted as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 4, whereupon a blanket may be inserted between the gripping members. Thereafter the gripping member I8 is again pivoted to lower its forward end and to permit the hook eye of the member I4 to pass therethrough. Thereafter the clamping member I6 is pivoted to its closed position to securely grip the blanket as seen in Fig. 5 and inasmuch as the pivot of the gripping member I8 is below the pivot of the clamping member. a positive locking will result.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the language used in the following claims is intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

I claim as my invention:

1. A clasp comprising a base member having a portion securable to a iiexible anchor strap, a gripping member mounted on the base member, said gripping member comprising a loop having a reduced outer end, a clamping member pivotally mounted on the base member, a second gripping member pivotally mounted on the clamping member and comprising a loop having an enlarged outer end through which the reduced end of the first gripping member may pass and cooperating means carried by the outer ends of said gripping members for interlocking same when the end of one gripping member is positioned within the other.

2. A clasp comprising a base member, a clamping member pivotally carried thereby, a gripping member comprising a loop and a wide central portion and a narrow end portion raised above the plane of the side central portion'and a second gripping member pivotally carried by the clamping member and comprising a loop having a central portion narrower than the central portion of the said first gripping member and an end portion wider than the end portion of said rst gripping member, the end portion of said second gripping member being releasably interlockable with the end portion of said first gripping member when the clamping member is in a locking position.

3. A clasp comprising a base member and a clamping member pivotally mounted on the base member, a gripping member carried by the base member and comprising a pairL of spaced apart side arms having their inner ends secured to the base member and their outer ends curved inwardly and terminating above the plane of the base member and interconnected by a transverse cross bar, a second gripping member carried by said clamping member and comprising a pair of spaced side arms having their inner ends pivotally mounted to said clamping member, said side arms then converging towards one another to a space less than the spacing between the side arms of the rst gripping member and then diverging from one another so that their outer ends have a greater spacing than the outer ends of said first gripping member and a transverse cross bar interconnecting the outer ends of the side arms of said gripping member, said cross bar having a rearwardly extending portion underlying the cross bar of said rst gripping member when the clasp is in closed position.

4. A clasp of the character described including a rigid gripping member, a clamping member having a pivot support fixed relative to said gripping member and manually pivotable between a forward and a rearward position, a second gripping member having a second pivot mounting located outwardly on the clamping member and movable with the clamping member to either side of the rst gripping member, interengaging means on the outer ends of said gripping members, said second gripping member being free to locate entirely to one side of the first gripping member when the clasp is in the open position and the clamping member is in the forward position, and having its outer end and pivot mounting secured on the other. side of the first gripping member when the clasp is closed and the clamping member is in the rearward position.

5. A clasp including a rigid gripping member, a clamp pivotally mounted relative thereto and manually movableto a forward and a rearward position, a second gripping member pivotally mounted on the clamping member and extending forwardly of the rst gripping member when the clamp is in the forward position, said second gripping member interlocking and tensioning with the first gripping member as the clamp is drawn rearwardly to a positive locking position.

JOHN B. FREYSINGER. 

